It was as boys that the Wright brothers first began experiments with flying, and though they have received the highest praises from the whole world, Orville still is, and until his death Wilbur was, the same quiet, modest man who made bicycles in Dayton, and the surviving brother of the pair is working harder than ever. In telling the story of their own early play, that later proved to be one of the most important things they ever did, the Wright brothers wrote for the _Century Magazine_: "We devoted so much of our attention to kite-flying that we were regarded as experts. But as we became older we had to give up the sport as unbecoming to boys of our age." As every boy knows, kite-flying was one of the early methods of experimenting with air currents and greatly aided the scientists in their exploration of the ocean of air that surrounds the world, eddying and swirling up and down, running smoothly and swiftly here, coming to a dead stop there--but always different from the minute before. But before the Wright brothers gave up flying kites they had played with miniature flying machines. They were known then as "helicopteres," but the Wright brothers called them "bats," as the toys came nearer resembling bats than anything else the boys had seen about their home in Dayton, Ohio. Most boys probably have played with something of the kind themselves, and maybe have made some. They were made of a light framework of bamboo formed into two screws driven in opposite directions by twisted rubber bands something like the motors on boys' model aeroplanes of to-day. When the rubber bands unwound the "bats" flew upward. "A toy so delicate lasted only a short time in our hands," continues the story of the Wright brothers, "but its memory was abiding. We began building them ourselves, making each one larger than that preceding. But the larger the 'bat' the less it flew. We did not know that a machine having only twice the size of another would require eight times the power. We finally became discouraged." This was away back in 1878, and it was not until 1896 that the Wright brothers actually began the experiments that led to their world-famous success. Strangely enough it all started when Orville, the younger of the two, was sick with typhoid fever, the same disease that caused Wilbur Wright's death. According to all accounts, the elder brother, having remained away from their bicycle factory in order to nurse Orville, was reading aloud. Among other things he read to Orville the account of the tragic death of Otto Lilienthal, the German "Flying Man" who was killed while making a glide. [Illustration: MOTOR OF THE WRIGHT BIPLANE] [Illustration: A 16-CYLINDER 100-HORSEPOWER ANTOINETTE MOTOR A frequent prize winner.] [Illustration: AN 8-CYLINDER 5O-HORSEPOWER CURTISS MOTOR] THE GNOME MOTOR [Illustration: Standard Gnome aeroplane motor, showing interior.] [Illustration: Photo by Philip W. Wilcox.